Romantic Interruptions: A Genre Trope
Romantic Interruptions: A Closer Look into a Favorite Romantic Trope
Note: Mentions of mature content ahead—not explicit.
I have a love hate relationship with romance books. I'll be up front—I adore both cute and steamy slow burns but I'm not a fan of instant love situations. While they can be good, I'm not behind the “he's so hot which means I'm deeply attracted” cliché without another reason. Do you need another reason for a hookup? Not at all! That works fine, but reading about such stories is boring to me.
Today's article is an opinion piece on the romantic interruptions trope that is often the backbone of romance novels. It's necessary. It's important. But geez, why does it have to be so repetitive! The purpose of these interruptions is to stop the characters from their first kiss, from hooking up, or from advancing the relationship and discussing their feelings for plot. This stretches out the tension and aggravates the reader as we wish and read faster, hoping that these things will finally happen despite all the interruptions throughout the story.
Common Cliches and Romantic Tropes
If you are a romance writer, it's important to be familiar with your genre. My advice is not to avoid writing these things, (even if I might not like them...) but to be aware of what is common. These are common because they are effective interruptions and transitions in a story. They shift the mood and can get a reaction out of your reader.
Let's set the scene. A romantic pair are leaning in for a kiss... Here are ways we can interrupt that moment:
Someone’s cell phone rings.
A friend, pet, or relative pops in.
An angry ex appears.
The house catches on fire.
Someone dies i.e., a family member off screen.
There is a car accident.
These are common interruptions and are things that can happen in real life but when I read a book and three or more of the above situations happen only to deter the couple, I get annoyed! That's when it starts to feel repetitive. When this happens, the entire plot becomes two characters trying to get together but are interrupted again, again, and again.
Little Tangent: It's the worst when an entire book is like this because sometimes those interruptions are shallow and are not building the characters in any way. But it's even worse when the characters finally hook up and you finally get that spicy scene the author has been building to and it is rushed. What was the point!?
Other Interruptions to Consider
If you want to avoid too many of the moments I previously mentioned above, there are hundreds if not thousands of ways to do so. Characters can be hot and heavy and ready to go but little obstacles to the big moment can feel more natural.
I will explain one example first to help you picture how a small interruption can work. For example, two characters can be alone enjoying the moment when they realize they only have one condom, and it is expired. This allows the sexual tension to rise but that interruption successfully stops things from happening in their tracks. It continues the painfully exciting will-they-won't-they tension in the story without absolutely tearing the scene apart with a random interruption that had nothing to do with that moment. Obviously, things can still happen but just follow me here!
Here are some more!
Someone is too nervous, so they decide not to go all the way yet. (This gives you room for dialogue and character development!)
A condom or supplies problem.
Someone doesn't feel well. For example, they go on a dinner date, and someone has a stomachache, is nauseous, or too bloated afterward.
A character forgot to be somewhere where they are expected.
Someone falls or gets a small injury such as a bump on the head but now the scene turns cozy as they take care of each other.
The power goes out!
Someone loses their keys.
The characters get startled or scared by something nearby.
A child or family member in the next room is woken up by the character sneaking back home and interrupts the moment.
Someone has caught a cold or allergies activate and stop everything.
The characters struggle to find somewhere private.
It's outside: the weather, bugs, and privacy issues.
Through dialogue and asking questions in the moment, characters can find out new information or issues about each other.
The moment can be unprepared, and the two potential lovers might not have the items they need on them and promise to continue later (good for toy play or BDSM scenes.)
When using smaller interruptions, related to the moment, it feels more natural and is not as jarring. These kinds of interruptions also keep the focus on the two characters so they can continue to navigate their moment and relationship. After this, the sexual tension can continue to rise as the book goes on.
Conclusion
Anyways, those are my thoughts. Never feel that you must follow play by play what other books are doing. Maybe the hookup happens and the real tension in the story is the developing relationship instead. Conflicts in romance don't always have to be an unexpected outside force. There are great complexities even in those instant love scenarios between the characters themselves.
To summarize, I once read a book that was absolute fire when it came to the couple and the romantic scenes throughout the novel but a big problem I had with it was all the big interruptions. They were phone calls, there were dogs bursting into the room at inappropriate times, there was a fire, there was an angry ex, and I think someone died. It was way too much at once and just really disrupted everything to an extent where I almost stopped reading a few times. That was a book by the queen of romance, Lori Foster, so she obviously knows what she is doing but I was so tired of it at the end.